Page 1 of 8

Some pictures ...

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:36 pm
by Vader
Browsed my HD for pics I've had taken from my food and uploaded it. Thought I might share (yes, I'm in attention wh**e mode tonight.)

Next to my wife and daughter the love of my life.
Image

oven roasted vegetables
Image

Sushi & stuff
Image

Kung Pao chicken
Image

Duck breast on Chinese vegetables
Image

Antipasti (filled tomatoes and 'shrooms)
Image

more Antipasti (marinated chanterelles, grilled zucchini and sweet pepper filets in olive oil)
Image

Chopped veal Zurich style with fried potato cake (Swiss national dish)
Image

Paella with seafood from the barbie
Image

Pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella (fior di latte) and fresh basil
Image

Pumpkin ragout on tagliatelle
Image

Chicken-banana skewers with raisin rice and glaced ginger carrots
Image

Chicken soup (I love that pic)
Image

The day after the soup: chicken fricassee with 'shrooms and asparagus
Image

Crawfishtail salad on mango carpaccio.
Image

Onion tart xxl
Image

Duck served two ways on potato cream with red cabbage and lingonberry sauce
Image
Roast pork and crackling with carrots, kohlrabi and bread dumpling (very German)
Image

Vanillemousse with raspberries in chocolate mesh. It still needs some fruity sauce and icing sugar on top.
Image

red thai beef curry, rather mild
Image

one of my pasta favorites: penne all'arrabbiata. (pasta has been pre-cooked and needs to cook al dente in the sauce now.)
Image

Kisir (turkish bulgur salad)
Image

filled vegetables with raisin rice
Image

Tandoori chicken (back left: Teriyaki chicken, right: chinese spareribs)
Image

Safron Risotto with Chantarelles
Image

I'd kill for this: ragù alla Bolognese with tagliatelle - never use spaghetti with this ragù)
Image

Punpkin-ginger soup with lime
Image

Another classic from over here: filled sweet peppers with tomato sauce
Image

The sous-chef de cuisine (deputy kitchen chef) at work. Handles the knife like a pro.
Image

On a side note: taking "good" pictures of food seems to be harder than cooking it.

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:39 pm
by lorin
that stove looks awesome!

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:55 pm
by stonemaybe
Vader, I love food but your pictures leave me totally unimpressed! You know why? I KNOW you have a gooseberry bush.

Show me a picture of that, THEN I may drool over the above!

;)

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:05 pm
by Vader
LOL, this time of the year the bush rather looks unimpressive. Wait for next summer ...

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:15 pm
by Menolly
Image

Your daughter is a cutie-pie as well, Vader!

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:17 am
by aliantha
*Pictures* of food are all well and good. But I'd like the opportunity to drool over the recipe for your pumpkin-ginger soup. ;)

Seriously, gorgeous stuff. My meals never look that picture-perfect.

-ali (who had a leftover turkey sandwich for dinner just now)

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 2:00 am
by stonemaybe
LOL, this time of the year the bush rather looks unimpressive. Wait for next summer ...
You mean, you mean!? You mean you don't think enough of your gooseberry bush to already have pictures of it in full bloom??????

*shaking head, walking away from the galley forever*

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:02 am
by Menolly
Stonemaybe wrote:*shaking head, walking away from the galley forever*
8O 8O 8O

Noooo!!!!

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2009 11:18 am
by Vader
The pumpkin soup is quite simple and foolproof. You can add more ginger and lime if you want.

• 1kg /2-2,5 lbs pumpkin (roughly diced) I use Hokkaido
• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 onion (roughly diced)
• 1 clove of garlic (chopped)
• 900ml / 30oz vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp of ginger (grated) or more to taste
• 1 Tbs lime juice (fresh) or more to taste
• 1 Tbs of orange zests
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• milk
• salt and fresh grounded black pepper
• cream cheese
• chives

Sweat onions and garlic in the butter (we don't want color here, just softness and sweetness) and add the pumpkin. Stir and gently fry for a few minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil at medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add ginger, lime juice, orange zests and bay leaves. Let simmer at low heat for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is pretty well done and soft.

Take out bay leaves and purée. Add milk until you get the desired consitency. Again season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve with a slice of lime and a knob of cream cheese and chopped chives.

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 3:59 am
by aliantha
Thank you, sir! I am all about simple and foolproof! :)

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 5:43 am
by matrixman
Vader wrote:On a side note: taking "good" pictures of food seems to be harder than cooking it.
Yet you have acquitted yourself well! The photos are clear and sharp, and the food looks scrumptious. I envy your cooking skills (and that stove).

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:06 pm
by Vader
Christmas Eve 2009.

Doesn't look like much for 7 grown ups and a kid but there's plenty left.

Started with two kind of soups. Clear beef consommé with root vegetables

Image

and a creamy tomato soup

Image.

Here's the cold-warm buffet. The picture looks awful because the light was not right. It's all very traditional (except for the empanadas) but hey, christmas is a traditional holiday.

Image

in the back left to right: different kinds of cheese with grapes and bread, two kind of oven baked mini empanades (spinach-cheese and ground beef-onion filling), next to cherry tomatoes. Below that crayfishtail salad in cocktail sauce. Next to it cheery tomatoes filled with olive-cheese cream. The small bowl next to it has red onions sweet & sour, the round bowl below some kind of creamy chicken liver "pâté" with apples and calvados. Next to it fried meat in batter, small meat balls and cooked quail eggs.The round thing is a smoked salmon-spinach quiche.

Here the empanadas a bit closer

Image

and the right side of the buffet in detail

Image

The desert was a brilliant apple crumble my sister made - served with vanilla ice and whipped cream (no picture sadly).

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 11:36 pm
by lorin
I am still trying to make a really good tomato soup. Wanna share?

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:22 am
by Avatar
Damn Vader. Are you now, or have you ever been, a professional chef? That stuff is plated well enough for any restaurant I've ever been to.

I have an awesome tomato soup recipe Lorin...unfortunately, it was packed away in storage with the rest of my mom's stuff when she died. I haven't had any tomato soup for 3 years as a result. (It's the only one I'll eat.) :(

When I eventually rescue it, I'll share it with you. Might be another year or two though.

--A

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:21 am
by Vader
Never been a professional stuff. As we say over here "Das Auge ißt mit" which can roughly be translated into "you also eat with your eyes" or as SRD would have put it "taste is in the eye of the beholder".

Here's my tomato soup for 4 servings. (As usual I have no freaking idea which measurements you are using ....)2

canned tomatoes (750g or 1.5lbs)
2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium sized onion (finely chopped)
1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
1 small sweet red bell pepper (finely chopped)
1 liter (like a quarter of a gallon) good vegetable stock
3 Tbs of concentrated tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp sugar
fresh basil leaves

If you are using fresh tomatoes you need to skin them first. That's why I use canned ones which is perfectly okay for soups and sauces.

However, I skin the pepper with a good sharp vegetable peeler. This is totally oprional, I just don't want pieces of skin in my soup. But since you puree the soup in the end it won't really matter if you don't peel them.

Gently sweat the onion, garlic and red pepper in olive oil for 10 minutes. No roasting, no colour, just let them become lucent and develop some kind of sweetness.

Add tomatoes and let sweat for another 10 minutes.

Add stock, tomato puree, salt, pepper and sugar, put a lid on the pot and let gently simmer for like 15 minutes. Add basil leaves and puree until creamy.

Serve with little noodles.

Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:35 pm
by matrixman
Avatar wrote:Damn Vader. Are you now, or have you ever been, a professional chef? That stuff is plated well enough for any restaurant I've ever been to.
I was thinking the same thing.

Vader, since you did not have a professional background in this sort of thing, that's actually encouraging - it means there's hope for the rest of us.

Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 9:47 pm
by Vader
Monk fish filets, scampi and scallops with chinese vegtables.

Image

Creamy potatoe soup with majoram and croutons.

Image

Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:39 pm
by Vader
It's been a while and I haven't been idle.

Image
Fried potatoes with bacon.

Image
My interpretation of insalata caprese with fresh figs.

Image
Fish filets and spinach in puffy pastry.

Image
Fritatta con patate.

Image
Stewed lamb with kritharáki noodles in the clay pot (Römertopf).

Image
The classical gratin dauphinois.

Image
Prawns and mussels on tagliatelle.

Image
Rosemary chicken on vegetables. Clay pots rule.

Image
Another classic: veal saltimbocca with caprese and oven roasted potato wedges. The Marsala sauce is somewhere hidden under the meat unfortunately.

Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 6:16 am
by JazFusion
Jeezum. I just had a foodgasm.

You should seriously open your own restaurant. Or start a food blog. Or something.

Da-yum!

Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:45 pm
by Menolly
^what Jaz said^